Welcome to this contemplation on the fire element.
I'm going to be discussing with you qualities of fire.
That are pertaining to the fire element in general.
In other words,
Whatever perspective you are coming from,
Whether it is traditional Chinese medicine,
Whether it is a spiritual perspective,
Whether it is from another modality,
It could be four elements with five features,
Or five elements with five features.
There are certain qualities that is fire.
And then I'm also going to be touching on aspects that speak into the I Ching language.
Which I do feel.
Also.
Permeates.
Through the greater and collective fire theme as well.
So when we think of fire,
And we start from a very literal perspective.
And we imagine.
Fire in front of us.
We see the direction that it moves.
It travels upwards.
It's very clear and knowing.
Where it's going.
It doesn't travel down.
And yes,
It can.
Travel out when it becomes a wildfire And there are qualities like that that show up.
In the personal self as well,
There is that potential for growth.
Wire to expand outwards.
But even when it's expanding outwards.
Always traveling upwards that is it's natural direction.
And so That directs.
Almost.
Arrow-like aim.
Speaks to the themes of having a goal and setting out for it.
And staying on that path.
And having success with it.
Along the way,
Not only for achieving it.
But for the journey.
So the fire experience is very much about the journey and it's not a solo journey.
Via talks to Connection.
Think about.
A fire on a winter's eve.
And.
People are sitting in corners of the room.
Feeling quite cold?
And all of a sudden there's a fire.
Somewhere,
Maybe in the center of the room,
Maybe in another room,
Maybe outside.
And more often than not,
There is this natural,
Automatic.
.
.
Response.
That draws one to the fire.
And then what happens around the fire?
Well,
There is warmth.
We start to relax.
And with that relaxing,
Now we can start opening up.
Sharing,
Talking,
Laughing,
Having a good time.
So that type of connection.
Including playfulness.
Think of those playful flames of fire.
Are qualities of fire in harmony.
So there's always this yin and yang aspect.
And then we've got.
Path in the middle,
Which is a balance between bars.
So.
.
.
How is your fire?
If you think.
.
.
Fire perhaps for you in terms of any of those qualities mentioned.
How is your fire right now?
Is it very large?
Is it happening?
Is it loud?
Is it too loud?
Or is it too quiet?
Do you not even know where there is fire in your life right now?
Fire also has a strong spiritual connection.
So unlike water,
Where water calls for us to be.
Connecting very quietly.
Very much inwardly.
Very much one-on-one,
So the self to the self,
The self to divine,
The self to nature or the self to another self whereas fire still a connection to all those.
Beings or experiences or states.
But it includes.
The community.
It's very inclusive.
So when we see fire showing up for us,
And it catches our eye,
Or maybe we're doing an itching reading and fire comes up there.
They will be a calling for communion,
And.
Spiritual connection at some level.
Sometimes it's so subtle we might not notice it straight away.
But from a TCM,
Traditional Chinese medicine perspective,
When we look at the five elements,
And while they all,
Of course,
Do have a spiritual connection,
The primary element of spirit.
Is fire.
And so when we are.
.
.
Deficient or excessive.
And some of the qualities of fire,
Those mentioned and those that we will still be talking about.
This is also a message for us to open our spiritual hearts.
And.
.
.
Connect more or perhaps.
.
.
Connect more in a particular way.
Or perhaps it's a reminder to continue.
With one's spiritual practice.
And with this spiritual light.
That fire brings.
There is much radiance.
And with radiance.
There is clarity.
Imagine a dark room.
A fire is in that room.
Suddenly there's light.
We can see when the fire goes low.
It's difficult to see.
And it's the same in our own lives.
We need fire.
We need fire.
That inner inspiration.
We need to feel connected to life,
Connected to others.
That's a fire quality.
And that will help us to.
.
.
Move,
Move forward in our lives,
In certain areas in our whole life.
To grow.
And to enjoy life.
You know,
Those individuals who have the spark in their eyes that just shows you how much they love life.
No matter what they are engaging in.
Chars are very strong.
Via a connection.
As well as those who know as adults how to play,
How to be playful,
While still taking care of responsibilities,
But to do it in a way that it doesn't consume one.
The element of fire,
Because it's talking about connecting us to you.
Goals which is really purpose,
Keeping us on our path.
There is also a reference to intelligence.
And creativity.
And success.
And through all of this,
We experience enlightenment.
When fire is out of balance.
Emotionally,
One can experience that as a tendency to cling or even to be clung to,
To stifle others or to feel stifled.
And there would be an imbalance with love as well.
Giving too much of the self or not being able to love the self,
Not being able to forgive others.
The difficulty with compassion.
Are we able to be compassionate?
With all.
No matter who they are or where they are.
Or is our love divided?
And that will affect.
How?
Why?
Shows up.
In our life.
Inwardly but also externally.
Fire connects to the season of summer.
Time where the sun is out and about and In nature,
The growth is at its peak.
So again,
We see this display of success,
A successful Season of?
The turning of seasons,
Of the maturation And often this is the time to go to the fruit trees and pick the fruit.
The rewards are there.
So rewards.
And it doesn't have to be.
Something big.
In lights,
Although it might be.
But enjoying.
And the ability to enjoy those small successes that happen from day to day.
Shows that you are keeping your inner fire alive.
And sometimes we.
.
.
Have to actively tend to that.
So how can we do that?
By being creative.
By being careful,
By dancing,
By moving,
Listening to music.
Writing,
Drawing,
Singing,
And it doesn't have to be for an aim of perfection.
It is for the act of expiration.
Because this is what fire needs.
It needs to be able to express itself.
However,
We need to also remember there comes a time where there is too much expression.
And when that happens,
The emotions become imbalanced,
The nervous system becomes unstable,
And that can even affect one's sleep.
So insomnia,
We see,
Resides in the fire element and the related meridians from a physiological and energy body perspective.
Now if we turn to the I Ching again,
Related vibrations.
Connected to fire.
Is the bird?
So birds of any kind,
Because it's connected to flight.
And flight is representative of the spirit.
So here we see it showing up again in that way.
The I Ching connects the color yellow.
Like the radiance of the golden sun.
To fire.
Eyes are the body part and the sense organ.
So the vision,
Not only external and being able to see down the line and make plans so that one can be successful in whatever one is doing.
So that vision comes from our inner fire.
But likewise.
Our vision of the self within is also very important.
Be outwardly expression.
Again.
Balance is being called for.
And so when there's too much fire,
We can sometimes bring in water.
But that can.
Be a very fine line to create the right balance and we see this in the I Ching where we have a low trigram of water and an up trigram of fire.
And that's calling for caution.
Whereas if we've got fire in the lower trigram and water in the upper trigram now we have got completely different meaning and feeling and sense of support in that experience.
Feel into fire through The system of the I Ching can take us into further levels of understanding this element and of course it's the same for other elements as well.
And there's another very interesting aspect that the I Ching brings into each of the elemental awareness factors.
And that is the family member.
And for fire.
The related individual holding that frequency of fire is the second daughter.
So in the family unit of eight elements.
There's the mother,
Father,
Three daughters and three sons.
So the second daughter would be between the youngest and the eldest.
So she's a connector.
And she's unifying The Younger with the elder.
Union is such a strong theme for fire,
As we spoke of earlier when people gather round a fire.
And that sends our connection that just automatically happens with the fire.
And so it naturally happens with the second daughter.
Or with birds.
Think of.
Flock of birds or an unusual bird or the sound of birds and how people can be attracted to that.
Just like one is attracted to the sun.
And people gather outside.
Under the sun.
Maybe not directly,
But it's at that time where the sun is rising and it's being seen.
So all these different aspects are different ways of understanding and feeling into the quality of fire.
So you might feel more of a connection to one aspect or two or three.
And not the others,
And that's absolutely fine.
Notice the ones that talk to you and work with those to help you to not only understand literally,
But sense in your body,
The qualities that we have spoken of here.
And now,
When going into an I Ching reading,
And fire happens to be one of the trigrams that shows up,
Now you've got a richer Awareness to bring in the light.
To really receive.
The different layers of that message.
Which is coming through for you.
Internally.
As well as externally.
And if you would like to explore FIRE more in the body,
I do have a video course available.
Balanced fire for mind-body spirit.
I would love to have you join.
And until then.
Keep tending to your fire.
